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Alten (Race)
Alten is both the name of a race in Red Soul and the name of the over-arching family that composes the race. They were born when the Alten family, a family of sorcerers, was attacked by one of the invaders which tried to turn them into half-invader slaves that could act as assassins to kill the knights of the old empire. However, it failed when the Alten family somehow managed a counter attack. The Altens became a hybrid of human and demon, but instead of freaks and human killers, they became stable and far more human than intended. They were close enough to be considered an offshoot of humanity, and instead of feeding on humans, they could now feed on invaders. They have since splintered into smaller families that have their own names. In modern days, more superstitious people think of them as demons or monsters that are kept on a leash to kill invaders. However, those with even a shred of education know they are not, and respect them. Places with actual education systems go to great length to express just how incredible they are, and how significant the sacrifice they made for the good of humanity was. Though they officially hold no titles unless they win them on their own, most are considered to be "of noble blood" and are welcomed in courts around the world. Physiology Most Altens look fairly similar to humans at their core. However, each Alten has unique "mutations" that they gain as they grow older. These could be as simple as altered ears, or as complex as four arms. Mutations to that degree, however, are rare. Altens tend to be stronger and faster than humans, with approximately the same intelligence. However, they possess truly incredible regenerative powers and are nearly impossible to actually kill. For the most part, they can learn or use any power a human could, with the exception of control over machine spirits. Due to their half invader side, many Altens have taken to performing a ritual called the bonding. The bonding is a highly controversial rite that binds an Alten to a human, giving the human massive amounts of control over the Alten, but also letting the Alten maintain their human side. While the human could abuse the bond, some families like the Chairantsa have managed to avoid this by building emotional bonds as well as professional ones between the Alten and the human in question. They are often encouraged to marry, and while some claim this would make it hard for the human to enforce the link when necessary, this process has actually worked beyond all expectations. The acts of falling in love, forming life bonds, and otherwise growing closer to others vastly reduces the invaders influence to a point were the link is often not necessary. Altens are nocturnal, and are more active during the night than during the day. They can't stand bright sunlight, making travel extremely difficult for them. The Altens have very few children because their reproductive system works off of a "safe" and "non-safe" system, and the two genders have cycles that make it impossible to reproduce among themselves. They find this to be a huge problem, so to solve this problem, they use the "bonding" rite to marry off their children to other species, thereby restricting the problem to one gender instead of two. However, the problem is less dire than first glance, because when a woman of another species births a baby, that baby will always be a pure-blood Alten, because magic. Most of the Altens are around 20 to 30 years old. Most of them mature "in their prime", but some are stuck on the ends of the scale, like Ren's grandmother. Abilities They have them. Culture Since the Altens have very few members, they have less of a "culture" and more of a "family relationship" so to speak. On the outside, this is considered to be their culture, but they do not consider it as such, seeing it as simply the way they operate. Most of the decisions made in the Alten family are made by a council of three people. One of them is very young at 15 years old, and is Ren's grandmother. Another of the council members, is very old, almost ancient, but has seen less than Ren's grandmother. And yet another is shrouded in mystery, his age and appearance unknown. Below them, the "oldest" (in terms of years lived) Altens have seniority over younger Altens. The Alten have a very "family-first" mentality, thinking to consider the opinions of their family members first before considering an outsider's opinion. Site Navigation Category:RS Category:Race